Sunday, 29 December 2013

SoulenginE
were formed in Milan in 2007 on the initiative of guitarist Ettore
Salati (who is also a member of RedZen and of the Alex Carpani Band)
and keyboardist Fabio Mancini who had just left their previous band,
The Watch. Later the line up was completed by bassist Nando De Luca
and drummer Giacomo Pacini and the band began to work on new
compositions blending vintage sounds and new ideas with a wide range
of influences going from progressive rock to jazz, from fusion to
psychedelia. After a hard work, in 2012 they released their first
full length album on the independent label Ma.Ra.Cash Records, Mind
Colours, featuring a nice art
work by Davide Guidoni that in some way tries to catch the spirit of
this work, a variegated mix of musical colours and dizzy reveries.
The album is almost completely instrumental but never boring and the
all the members of the band showcase a great musicianship.

The
excellent opener “Polheim” begins softly with a strummed acoustic
guitar pattern and a dark organ background, then the rhythm rises
while keyboards and electric guitar begin to embroider charming
melodic lines. Polheim (Home at the Pole) is the name that Roald Amundsen gave to his camp at the South Pole when he reached it with
his expedition on December 14, 1911 but this piece was also used to
comment Dante Alighieri's immortal poetry in the Musea's tribute to
his Divine Comedy. In particular, this track is related to the verses
of Purgatory – Canto VI, where the Sommo Poeta
compares Italy to a vessel without a pilot in a storm, a country that
has became savage and unmanageable on account of the greediness and
selfishness of its political class. Anyway, close your eyes and let
the music drive! You're embarking on an adventurous musical journey
through time and space.

Next
comes the dreamy “Third In Line” featuring delicate piano
passages and a spicy flavoured finale, a kind of oriental delight. It
leads to “Rain Flower”, sprinkled with Latin rock echoes that
could recall Santana, then it's the turn of the calm, jazzy “On The
Other Side”, an evocative piece full of soft nuances.

The
atmosphere of the following “Down The Street” is nightmarish and
tense. It depicts a personal crises and features English lyrics
written by Ettore Salati and Ettore's brother Giorgio (a.k.a. Joe
Sal) on vocals. It is linked to “No Way Out”, a nervous, short
instrumental. Then comes the dark “No Rewarding”.

SoulenginE 2012

“Asleep”
is another piece featuring English lyrics and the guest vocalist Joe
Sal. It's a reflective track that draws the imagine of a man who has
to get out of his dreams to take his responsibilities... “I've been
asleep / And I never thought how could it be / To be awake / See the
light, feel the sounds...”. It leads to the beautiful conclusive
track, “Challenge To An End”, a long, complex piece featuring
another guest, Davide Gandino, on flute. Well, on the whole I think
that this is very good album that it's really worth listening to.
Have a try!

Thomas
Szirmay: A magnificent and compelling debut, SoulenginE is a crew
to follow, perhaps eschewing the microphone altogether and forging an
all-instrumental future, proving once again the majestic artistic
creativity emanating form the "boot". Perhaps the loveliest
artwork cover in recent decades only adds to their charm... (read
the complete review HERE)

Jerry
Lucky: Mind Colours is a very well crafted set of tunes.
SoulenginE can clearly play, and they play well together. Needless
to say if you enjoy symphonic prog with an Italian flavor I strongly
recommend you investigate SoulenginE. Mind Colours features some
great music and some excellent playing... (read the complete
review HERE)

Friday, 27 December 2013

Camelias
Garden come from Rome and began life in 2011 on the initiative of
multi-instrumentalist and composer Valerio Smordoni. In 2013 they
released a début album on the independent label Altr0ck/Fading
Records, You Have A Chance, with a line up featuring Valerio
Smordoni (vocals, MiniMoog, keyboards, piano, Harmonium, acoustic
guitar, Tambourine, Taurus Pedal), Manolo D'Antonio (acoustic and
electric guitar, classical guitar, ukulele, backing vocals and Marco
Avallone (bass, percussions) plus some guests such as Francesco
Favilli (drums, percussions), Carlo Enrico Macalli (flute), Andrea
Bergamelli (cello), Eliseo Smordoni (bassoon) and Giovanni Vigliar
(violin). Their influences range from pastoral, symphonic prog to
modern folk and West Coast echoes, from Genesis and Camel to Fleet
Foxes and Midlake. The artwork in some way describes the content of
the album, a colourful musical watercolour dealing with the dreams
and hopes of childhood.

The
opener “Some Stories” is a dreamy, melancholic ballad based upon
guitar and piano while violin and flute embroider delicate melodies
all around the soaring vocals. It conjures up a sense of nostalgia
for a lost innocence and leads to the beautiful mini suite “Dance
of The Sun / The Remark / Dance of The Sun (Birth of The Light)”
where dark and light colours are used to paint a strange musical
tableau about the circle of life and a spiritual rebirth.

The
music of the delicate, folksy “The Withered Throne” reminds me of
tin men riding nameless horses through sunny deserts while the
lyrics depict the end of a wondrous love story with its legacy of
broken hopes and wasted flowers. The following “We All Stand In Our
Broken Jars” is an instrumental piece that starts softly with a
strummed acoustic guitar pattern and riches its climax with a nice
finale in crescendo with vintage keyboards in the forefront.

Camelias Garden 2013

Next
comes “A Safe Haven” a dreamy instrumental track for piano solo
that leads to the light “Knight's Vow” that depicts the vows of
an immature child who spends his time waiting for his dreams to come
true by dreaming all day long. Then comes the acoustic “Clumsy
Grace” that features some nice soaring harmony vocals and portrays
the shy feelings of a little boy who falls in love with the immature
beauty of a little girl.

The
long, complex “Mellow Days” recalls Genesis and evokes cold
winter days passed waiting for better times, rainbows in the sky and
songs by the sea. The following “'Til The Morning Came” starts
with vocals a cappella, then acoustic guitar and vocals draw flowing
hopes escaping from a broken jar and a stream of growing thoughts. It leads to a reprise of the first track of the album that closes the
circle. It's time to wake up... “Now boy, stop to chase the wind /
Your life flows / You're hidden between the stories of someone across
the stars / Some days you're fighting the evil / Some days you're
begging a chance beyond the galaxies far away...”. Well, on the
whole I think that this is a good album, although it didn't really
strike a chord on me, but I'm sure that this band will do better in
the future. Anyway, have a try and judge by yourselves...

Raffaella
Benvenuto-Berry: Although derivative in parts, and occasionally a
tad repetitive, devoid of those sharper edges that might make it more
attractive to fans of more experimental fare, its soothing, mainly
acoustic nature will offer a lot of listening pleasure to those who
like their melody untainted by overt mainstream pretensions. Blending
nostalgia with a subtle touch of modernity, You Have a Chance is a
solid first showcase for a band that shows a lot of promise for the
future, and another intriguing find from the ever-reliable AltrOck
team... (read the complete review HERE)

Steven
Reid: Quirky though it may be, the wonderful illustration on the
cover of the debut album You Have A Chance from young Rome band
Camelia's Garden suggests something gentle, involved, innocent, yet
oddly sinister, and so this album proves... Camelia's Garden have put
together an album full of captivating songs which have both an
immediacy and a long lasting appeal, leading you to both want to play
it repeatedly on initial acquaintance, while still drawing you back
for more once that first impression has become something more
familiar... (read the complete review HERE)

Thursday, 26 December 2013

Il
Fauno di Marmo come from the province of Gorizia and began life in
2001 under the name of The Rebus. Since then the band have been very
active in the local live scene, releasing two self-produced albums,
The Rebus (2002) and Acroterius (2005). In 2012 they
signed a deal with the independent label from Verona Andromeda Relix
and changed their name into Il Fauno di Marmo, taking the place of
another project of the same name bound to Andromeda Relix and formed
by Erik Spedicato (drums), Roberto Vanni (guitar), Massimo Cavallari
(keyboards) and Roberto Galli (bass) who split up after recording
only one track, a Haikara's cover released in 2009 on a tribute album
to Finnish Progressive Rock by Musea Records, Tuonen Tytar II.
Well, the owner of the label, Gianni Della Cioppa, liked the name
(inspired by an Italian TV miniseries from the seventies based upon
the novel The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne) and, with the
consent of all the people involved, gave it as a legacy to the band
he had just enrolled that heartily accepted the new brand.

Il Fauno di Marmo 2013

Finally,
in 2013 this new version of Il Fauno di Marmo (formerly known as The
Rebus) released their first official album titled Canti, racconti
e battaglie (Song, tales and battles) with a line up featuring
Luca Sterle (vocals, flute), Valerio Colella (guitars, kazoo, backing
vocals), Alberto Ballaré (bass, backing vocals), Francesco Bonavita
(organ, piano, Moog, Mellotron, clavinet, bandoneon) and Luca Carboni
(drums). During the recording sessions they were helped by some
guests such as Simone D'Eusanio (violin), Alessandro Serravalle
(guitar – from Garden Wall), Federica Sterle (vocals) and Andrea
Tomasin (percussion) that contributed to enrich the sound and the
result in my opinion is really good. The packaging features a nice
artwork by Francesca Capone that in some way tries to capture the
spirit of this work and represents a magical flower with a long stem
and very deep roots. In fact, this album is the fruit of many years
of hard work and musical passion and you can feel that passion from
start to finish. Of course, the band's sources of inspiration are
apparent and range from Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull to the old
masters of the Italian progressive rock scene of the seventies but
the song-writing is good and the band reveal a great personality.

The
opener “Benvenuti al circo” (Welcome to the circus) comes from
the repertoire of Il Treno degli Specchi, Luca and Federica Sterle's
previous band that was active in the nineties but never had the
chance to record an album. The music perfectly fits the lyrics and
features many changes in rhythm and mood. It's about circus animals
abuse... “You go to the circus and you're so happy / In your mind
you have nothing but entertainment / But there's someone who's
trembling in fear / Beaten, bloody and in pain... Welcome to the
circus of horrors!...”. Well, animals aren’t actors or circus
clowns. Yet this piece depicts a circus where the animals are forced
to perform silly, confusing tricks under the threat of physical
punishment and tremble at the sound of a whip. While going to the
circus may be a favourite pastime for many adults and children, the
harsh treatment of animals here is condemned without mercy.. “How
many many people can understand that an animal can feel pain?...
There's so much sadness in their heart / Man is just a vile
traitor...”.

The
following “Madre natura” (Mother Nature) is a joyful track that
recalls Jethro Tull and depicts a timeless ritual dance in honour of
Mother Nature. There are children playing and people dancing in a
ring, hand in hand, while the music conjures up a strong sense of
positivity. Sun rays break through the sky while incense smells soar
and spread all around... “Mother Nature, listen to us if you can /
Look at your children, they know what is hope...”. You can find a
first version of this piece on The Rebus' eponymous album from 2002.

The
long, complex epic “Hop Frog” is another track composed by Luca
Sterle in the nineties that here comes to a new life thanks to the
contribute of all the musicians involved. It was inspired byHop-Frog, a tale by Edgar Allan Poe set in the court of an imaginary
country. It tells about the vendetta of the king's fool, a deform
dwarf called Hop Frog, who, during a masked ball, with his last
jester's trick sets fire to the king and his ministers dressed up in
ourang-outangs costumes... “Burn, burn vile king / Burn, burn into
the fire / Burn, burn vile king / In Hop Frog's stake...”. “I
now see distinctly.” he said, “what manner of people these
maskers are. They are a great king and his seven privy-councillors, -
a king who does not scruple to strike a defenceless girl and his
seven councillors who abet him in the outrage. As from myself, I am
simply Hop-Frog, the jester – And this is my last jest.

“Magic
Kazoo” is a psychedelic track featuring an exotic flavour. It
invites you to take a trip on a very strang spaceship and set off on
an interstellar musical journey, through dazzling star lights and
asteroids dancing in a ring, towards a new reality... “Maybe it's
just an imagine / A voice will call me back / Maybe it's nothing but
an imagine / A voice will speak to me...”.

Next
comes “Nova Res”, a beautiful instrumental piece that blends
psychedelia, sweet melodic lines and Latin rock. It leads to “Non
mollare mai” (Never give up), a bright track full of positive
energy that invites you to fight for what is really important in your
life, searching for a way out from the darkness of a personal crises
by leaving behind false solutions such as booze or drugs.

“La
battaglia di Kosovo-Polje” (The battle of Kosovo-Polje) is a new
version of a piece from The Rebus' previous album, Acroterius.
It features strong ethnic influences and a martial atmosphere. It
tells about the battle fought in 1389 between the Serbian army led by
prince Lazar Hrebeljanovic and the invading troops of the Ottoman
Empire. This battle is also known as the Battle of Blackbird's Field
and is particularly important to Serbian history, tradition, and
national identity... “Prince Lazar, what a silence! / Kosovo Polje
cries for your people / The blackbirds are flying over the corpses /
Dying men for the Motherland / Now the invaders have won / And the
crescent moon is high in the sky...”.

“Un
villaggio, un'illusione” (A village, an illusion) is a nice Quella
Vecchia Locanda's cover that the band interpret here with passion. It
leads to conclusive epic “Dorian Gray”, inspired by Oscar Wilde's
novel of The Picture of Dorian Gray. The music and lyrics
depict a troubled man who has sold his soul in exchange of eternal
beauty. But Death and remorse haunt him... “If you look at your
portrait / You are upset, Dorian Gray / It's like a spell that blurs
reality / A damned soul is growing inside you / You innocence is lost
/ What way will you choose? / Diabulus ita est / Demoni
vocant te / That's Death behind you...”. A wonderful finale for
a very interesting album!

Monday, 23 December 2013

L'Albero
del Veleno began life in Florence in 2010 on the initiative of
keyboardist and composer Nadin Petricelli and drummer Claudio Miniati
with the aim to recreate the musical atmosphere of Italian horror and
thriller soundtracks from the seventies. The name of the band means
“The Poison Tree” and was inspired by an ancient Eastern myth, a
kind of metaphor describing a beautiful entity hiding an evil nature.
It tells about a tree which attracts people thanks to its fruits and
to the peaceful shade of its branches but beware! The people who stop
under the tree to take a rest will never wake up on account of the
deathly power of its poison.

After
some line up changes and a hard work, in 2013 the band released a
début album, “Le radici del male” (The roots of evil), on the
independent label Lizard Records. The renewed line up features Nadin
Petricelli (keyboards, synth), Claudio Miniati (drums), Lorenzo
Picchi (guitars), Michele Andreuccetti (bass), Francesco Catoni
(viola) and Marco Brenzini (flute) and the result of their efforts is
a surprisingly fresh blending of vintage sounds and new ideas. Of
course, they could recall Goblin or the Swedish band Anima Morte but
the band showcase a great musicianship and a touch of sparkling
vitality.

L'Albero del Veleno 2013

The
opener “Dove danzano le streghe” (Where the witches dance) begins
softly, then the rhythm rises and the dance begins. The atmosphere is
haunting and you can really breath tension and a strange kind of
excitement where joy and fury are at war. The following “... e
resta il respiro” (… and breathing remains) begins with an old,
dark waltz coming from times out of mind, then the music lights like
a fire casting uneasy, flickering shadows all around.

“Presenze
dal passato” (Appearances from the past) has a strong classical
flavour and features delicate piano patterns and melancholic violin
lines. It leads to the more aggressive “Un altro giorno di terrore”
(Another day of terror) where feelings like fear and pain are painted
with strong musical colours. For this tack the band shot a video that
is included as a bonus on the CD.

“Due
anime nella notte” (Two souls in the night) is another dark,
haunting piece where you can imagine two lost souls in the night
dancing like moths around a fire, mesmerized. The last track, “Al
di là del sogno... l'incubo riaffiora” (Beyond the dream...
Nightmare comes back), is a tribute the films by director Lucio Fulci and to
the music of Fabio Frizzi and it's a medley taken from four different
scores Sette note in nero (The Psychic), Zombi 2, Paura nella città dei morti viventi (City of the Living Dead) e ... e tu vivrai nel terrore! L'aldilà (The Beyond) The different parts are perfectly matched together
and this long piece sounds like a wonderful suite that begins with
the sound of a carillon and ends with a powerful crescendo. A
delightful gran finale for an excellent work!

Michel
“Aussie-Byrd-Brother”: L'Albero del Veleno now joins the
company of artists like Jacula/Antonius Rex, Devil Doll, Il Segno del
Comando, and of course the mighty Goblin that inhabit the darker
corners of the Italian progressive genre. Short but darkly sweet,
their debut release gets them off to a fine start, and the sheer
talent on display from the band, not only in their playing, but in
the grand arrangements and their ambitions of creating films to
complement and enhance their work suggests a band with many great
ideas, that will see them further mature and develop their sound in
the future. For now, `Le Radici del Male' is a perfect introduction,
and surely just the beginning of a distinctive and promising new
project... (read the complete review HERE)

Monday, 16 December 2013

Alphataurus
began life in Milan in the early seventies and in 1973 released an
excellent eponymous début album on the independent label Magma
Records. Unfortunately, soon after their first work was released and
while they were working on a second album, they split up. The result
of the unachieved recording sessions was released by Mellow Records
in 1992, under the name Dietro l'uragano, but this can be
hardly considered an official album. In fact, it wasn't until 2008
that two of the original members decided to have a new start and
gathered a new line up to complete what they had begun long time
before. In 2010 the band began playing live again and in 2012
released a new studio album on the independent label AMS/BTF, Attosecondo, with a line up featuring, along with the two
veterans Pietro Pellegrini (organ, synth) and Guido Wasserman
(guitars, keyboards, vocals), new members Fabio Rigamonti (bass,
vocals), Claudio Falcone (vocals), Andrea Guizzetti (piano, synth,
vocals) and Alessandro Rossi (drums, percussion).

The
art cover was painted by the old friend Adriano Marangoni, the same
painter who was in charge of the wonderful art cover of their début
album. It tries to catch the spirit of this new work, rooted in the
past and projected towards the future with a sense of rebirth and
perpetual change. The album was produced with the help of the
off-stage Alphataurus' member Gianpaolo Santandrea who also
contributed to the song-writing of two tracks. In my opinion the
result is excellent, the overall sound perfectly blends vintage
instruments and new technologies, good musicianship and genuine
feelings.

The
opener “Progressiva-mente” (Progressive Mind / Progressively) is
a kind of manifesto of Alphataurus' new deal and invites you to look
for new rules and to leave behind the old clichés and the ideas that
someone else chose for you. The music alternates some aggressive
parts with delicate, dreamy passages and a strong sense of melody. If
you can avoid all the thoughts that can make you feel uncomfortable
you might overcome obstacles such as false ideologies and religions
and you will be able to climb up on you personal stairway to
heaven... “It is not easy, it never will / Just live it at the
right speed... Progressively you'll become aware / Suddenly you'll
recognize yourself... Progressive mind, open mind that creates,
imagines, improvises...”.

The
following “Gocce” (Drops) deals with environmental issues. It
draws in music and words an apocalyptic picture featuring dark
colours and some touches of hope. You're lying under a starry sky and
you feel helpless in front of the immense power of nature, you have
never felt so small before and you reflect about the merciless
greediness of the human race. Melodic vocals soar like a prayer...
“Mother earth, sooner or later you will collapse under the blows of
your children / We are drops in the sea of immensity, the wasted
sweat of civilizations / We are the blood of a world that doesn't
have a soul any more...”. To overcome this sense of loss you have
to fight. But now it could be too late and perhaps you would have
better to think of leaving this planet and embark on an interstellar
journey through the stars to find a new source of life, a stream that
would make you strong.

Next
comes “Ripensando e...” (Rethinking and...), a beautiful
instrumental track, a bright collage of musical colours and
classical evocations that takes you back to the seventies on the
footsteps of the days when it was originally composed. It leads to
“Claudette”, a long, complex track describes in music and words a
dialogue between an old man and a little child. It begins softly, the
mood is dreamy and melancholic... “I would like to be like you, go
back to your age / A clean mind that sees everything for what it is /
But life will forcefully change us / If I could save you from the
truth!...”. But you can never go back in time, you have to grow up
quickly while the contrary winds of life rage on you. The rhythm
rises while the music underlines how ever changing is everything on
this earth. You have to deal with all the challenges of life while
the ideal world of the fairy-tales crumbles around you. You have to
learn, you have to study, everyday you become more and more conscious
of what reality is. Finally you'll understand that you can't change a
destiny already written and you'll follow the mercilessly rules of
power. But even then, you would had better to remember the purity of
your childhood.

The
music of the last track, “Valigie di terra” (Suitcases of land),
tells in music and words the need to set off following a dream to
live, the need to move on breaking the borders of a unsatisfying
reality looking for a new life and a spiritual rebirth. Now you're on
the road again with nothing but a few suitcases containing your past,
land for your roots. But you might have to buy other suitcases along
your journey because you know that the future will give you better
things to care for... “I won't stay here / I made up my mind, this
is not my reality / I will follow the way that will stir my emotions
/ So I will come to a new life...”. Well, a great conclusion for an
excellent album!

Alphataurus:
Attosecondo (2012). Other opinions:

Conor
Fynes: Alphataurus tend to stick to the predetermined instruments
and tricks of Italian prog, and they're able to do this while keeping
the emotions fresh and evocative. It builds proudly upon an
already-excellent Italian progressive tradition, and while it may
never have the same far- reaching influence within the scene as the
eponymous debut, "AttosecondO" still rates as one of the
strongest RPI records to come out in a while. Their age regardless,
Alphataurus have proven that their sound- and by extension, the sound
of Italian progressive rock- is timeless, and that is quite an
accomplishment in of itself... (read the complete review HERE)